Investments: Shutdown Concludes
Late last Wednesday night, President Trump signed the bill that ended the 43-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. The turning point came earlier in the week when a group of centrist Democrats chose to break away and negotiate with Republicans to bring the shutdown to a close.
With the shutdown now in the rearview mirror, the path forward remains clouded. With no unemployment or inflation data released for October, we are still largely in the dark regarding the true state of the U.S. economy. Given that we are already halfway through November, the administration will likely prioritize this month’s CPI and unemployment reports, effectively skipping October.
The goal is to provide the Federal Reserve, which meets December 9–10, with enough current information to accurately gauge the U.S. economy before making any decisions on rate cuts. In the meantime, until we begin receiving updated underlying data, markets are likely to remain volatile and highly dependent on each incoming datapoint.
Planning: Staying the Course through Market Uncertainty
With all the uncertainty surrounding markets and the economy currently, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed about what to do next. However, short-term volatility is nothing new. Markets will rise and fall, and the investors who come out ahead in the aftermath are the ones who remain disciplined through the noise and uncertainty.
Rather than trying to predict the next dip, the wiser approach is to stay invested, stay diversified, and stay focused on your long-term goals. History has shown that patient investors are usually rewarded, not because they avoid the volatility of the market, but because they don’t let the volatility dictate their decisions.
